NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Mercury, America's first human space flight program, introduced the nation to its first astronauts. There were six total flights with six astronauts flown. Total flight time for these missions was 53 hours, 55 minutes and 27 seconds.





Mercury-Redstone 3
Spacecraft: FREEDOM 7
Mission Date: May 5, 1961
Astronaut: Alan B. Shepard, Jr.
Flight Summary: 15 minutes, 28 seconds -- Suborbital flight that successfully put the first American in space.

Mercury-Redstone 4
Spacecraft: LIBERTY BELL 7
Mission Date: July 21, 1961
Astronaut: Virgil I. Grissom
Flight Summary: 15 minutes, 37 seconds -- Suborbital flight, successful flight but the spacecraft sank shortly after splashdown.

Mercury-Atlas 6
Spacecraft: FRIENDSHIP 7
Mission Date: February 20, 1962
Astronaut: John H. Glenn, Jr.
Flight Summary: 4 hours, 55 minutes, 23 seconds -- Three-orbit flight that placed the first American into orbit.

Mercury-Atlas 7
Spacecraft: AURORA 7
Mission Date: May 24, 1962
Astronaut: Scott M. Carpenter
Flight Summary: 4 hours, 56 minutes, 5 seconds -- Confirmed the success of the Mercury-Atlas 6 by duplicating the flight.

Mercury-Atlas 8
Spacecraft: SIGMA 7
Mission Date: October 3, 1962
Astronaut: Walter M. Schirra
Flight Summary: 9 hours, 13 minutes, 11 seconds -- Six-orbit engineering test flight.

Mercury-Atlas 9
Spacecraft: FAITH 7
Mission Date: May 15-16, 1963
Astronaut: L. Gordon Cooper, Jr.
Flight Summary: 34 hours, 19 minutes, 49 seconds -- The last Mercury mission; completed 22 orbits to evaluate effects of one day in space.



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